Chess players receive 90 minutes for 40 moves, followed by 30 minutes to the end of the game, with a 30-second increment starting from move one. No draw offers are allowed before move 30 so expect fighting chess.

The 2018 Summer Chess Classic is the second of four tournaments each year featuring international chess professionals. The Summer Chess Classic is comprised of two 10-player Round Robin tournaments. Over the course of 10 days, these competitors will battle for more than $30,000 in prize money and gain valuable experience in top-level events.

The Quarterly Strong Tournaments here at the Saint Louis Chess Club were created so strong international masters and newly minted grandmasters could participate in strong round robin tournaments in which to test their mettle against players of similar levels and to learn from these experiences. These tournaments are very rare. Generally, organizers are more interested in hosting elite events with big names such as Fabiano Caruana, Wesley So or Magnus Carlsen. Opportunities in the U.S. are rare for grandmasters at the 2600 level.